Is cheesecake the next Dubai chocolate?

CHICAGO – Social media conversations about cheesecake are starting to increase, according to data from Tastewise, New York. Conversations rose 17% in 2025 when compared with 2024 and are expected to continue trending upward.

Cheesecake has been advancing in popularity around the world, especially in Asian countries. The Japanese cheesecake movement on social media fueled the application’s notoriety. The multi-texture dessert featuring a buttery, crunchy crust and creamy, dairy filling along with a sweet inclusion component complements the sensory cravings that attracted consumers to Dubai chocolate, which is a combination of chocolate, pistachio and kataifi.

Cheesecake as a stand-alone dessert shined at the International Dairy-Deli-Bakery Association’s IDDBA Show, which was held June 7-9 in Orlando, Fla. New formats and unique flavors, often packaged as single-serve desserts to provide portion control and to appeal to those with reduced appetites, dominated the tradeshow floor.

Chuckanut Bay Foods, Blaine, Wash., now offers 1-oz cheesecake bites in two-pack pouches and six-pack tubes. The company also has packaged its chocolate dipped cheesecake bites in pint containers and has options formulated with Dove and Snickers pieces.

While Suzy’s Cream Cheesecakes and Distinctive Desserts, Milwaukee, offers traditional cheesecakes, such as New York style and strawberry swirl, the company used IDDBA to showcase its unique flavors, such as guava, mango and passion fruit. The options come in bite-size, shareable packs as well as three-inch grab-and-go single-serve cups.

Best known for its mail order and foodservice offerings of cookies and brownies, David’s Cookies, Cedar Grove, NJ, is expanding into retail with single-serve 4.4-oz cheesecakes. Varieties are New York, strawberry swirl, Oreo and turtle.   

Another new player in single-serve retail cheesecakes is Cyrus O’Leary’s Pies, Airway Heights, Wash., a manufacturer of baked and cream pies. Varieties include salted caramel truffle and strawberry topped.

Kelia Losa Reinoso, a content writer with Tastewise, said cheesecake is no longer a single product type.

Emerging cheesecake flavors include chocolate pistachio, chocolate sea salt, strawberry matcha and pecan praline.

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“It’s a flavor system that keeps getting repackaged into new formats, textures and consumption moments,” she said.

Tastewise data suggests there are innovation opportunities in cheesecake-inspired dessert drinks, cheesecake-flavored ice cream, dessert dips and snackable bites. The demand is for familiar flavors in new formats. For product developers, this is where cheesecake trends shift from flavor-only to format plus texture engineering.

Tastewise Ingredient Performance shows the most popular ingredients linked to the cheesecake social conversations are berry (29% social share), chocolate (22%), strawberry (18%), vanilla (8.8%), lemon (7.4%), sugar (6.9%) and caramel (6.6%).

At the same time, Tastewise showed that some up-and-coming flavor combinations are chocolate pistachio (up 104%), chocolate sea salt (up 102%), strawberry matcha (up 94%) and pecan praline (up 75%).

Chicago-based Naked Smoothies has introduced a blueberry cheesecake protein beverage. Formulated with fruit, the offering aims to deliver a layered flavor experience.

Junior’s Restaurant and Bakery, Brooklyn, NY, known for its cheesecakes, partnered with another Brooklyn business, the Other Half Brewing, to offer limited-edition dessert-inspired beer styles. Two offerings are based on cheesecake. The Strawberry Dream Imperial IPA is an oat cream brew with hoppy strawberry notes. The Key Lime Cheesecake Sour IPA features hops and fresh lime with graham crackers, milk, sugar and oats.

The Tim Hortons coffeehouse chain also has a new Key lime Timbit on its menu this summer. The bite-size treat delivers a citrus twist with creamy Key lime cheesecake filling and powdered sugar.

The Kung Fu Tea bubble tea chain offers iced beverages that may be topped with what it calls a “velvety cheesecake milk cap and sprinkles of graham crackers.” This is in place of whipped cream.

Nature’s Path, Richmond, BC, has added a strawberry cheesecake flavor to its Love Crunch gluten-free granola. One serving provides 14 grams of whole grains.